Downtown parking issue heats up

By RICHARD HANNERS

Whitefish Pilot

The downtown area needs a full-sized parking structure, the Whitefish City Council was told during their Feb. 20 meeting, leaving city manager Gary Marks defending his earlier recommendation for a downsized facility at Second Street and Spokane Avenue.

Gary Stephens, chairman of the Heart of Whitefish downtown merchants association, spoke at length about the city's parking needs.

Others who spoke in favor of a full-sized parking structure included Stumptown Historical Society director Jill Evans, Chamber of Commerce president Sheila Bowen, Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau director Jan Metzmaker and member Rhonda Fitzgerald, and local developer Bayard Dominick.

Stephens said Marks' recommendation would not provide enough parking spaces to mitigate major road work slated for Central Avenue, and it did not follow the advice of consultants Crandall-Arambula in their Downtown Master Plan.

A parking structure at Second and Spokane with more than 200 parking spaces was the first catalyst project listed in the plan, Stephens said.

"I talked to the planners about the sequence of the catalyst projects," Stephens said. "I thought the sequence was obvious."

Stephens pointed out that the remodeled Central School auditorium project across the street will provide about 450 seats.

"Where will they park?" he asked the council.

Stephens also said he was concerned about delaying construction of a full-sized parking structure.

"If we let it go by, it will be too easy to forget it," he said.

He said he invested in remodeling the building where his Toggery store is located because he believed in the downtown plan. He said the 140,000 square feet of new retail space proposed in the plan could generate $240,000 in new resort tax revenue.

"It takes patience and investment to keep this going," he said.

Stephens noted that $1 of public investment translates into $7 of private investment, according to Crandall-Arambula, but some private developers were already concerned about investing because of parking difficulties downtown.

"If you have a commitment to a project, then funding sources can be found," he said, suggesting four funding sources for the parking structure:

* Create a business improvement district (BID). Stephens said the business community would support the new fees if they went to building a parking structure.

* The city could sell the parking lot at Third Street and Central Avenue. It's slated for retail development in the downtown plan, Stephens said.

* Tax-increment financing revenue (TIF) should be spent on projects that drive retail development, not public projects like a new city hall, he said.

* Charge downtown businesses that don't provide off-street parking a "parking investment fee" similar to the plant investment fees (PIF) used to pay for water and sewer projects.

Other speakers addressed how the Second and Spokane site could also be used for retail and public facilities.

In 2003, shortly after the city approved spending nearly $1 million for the former Big Mountain Tire site, the Stumptown Historical Society presented detailed plans for a $2.9 million visitor center for the high-profile site.

The three-story, 30,000-square-foot building would resemble the historic train depot and house several tourism-related organizations, including the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, the Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau, and the Glacier National Park Fund.

It also would provide public rest rooms and space on the first floor for a cafe and art gallery. Evans said at the time that the building could generate $40,566 in property taxes, up from $370 paid by the tire store.

Bowen said the Chamber fully supports a visitor center at Second and Spokane, but it also wants more than 200 parking spaces provided in a parking structure at the site.

She provided the results of several parking studies conducted by the Chamber and the Takin' Care of Business Association to show the parking needs downtown:

* In March 2003, a downtown survey with 162 mail-in responses and 57 face-to-face interviews found that parking was the number-one issue, followed in order by public rest rooms, traffic and trash.

* In May 2003, a survey was conducted of downtown businesses along Central Avenue from First to Third streets and the immediate side streets that did not provide private parking. The survey found 84 vehicles parked on public streets belonged to business owners or their staff.

* In 2005, the Chamber counted 121 events that involved downtown parking. That number increased last year to 132.

Marks told the council he was surprised by the comments he was hearing because he had met with the Heart of Whitefish and spoken with Crandall-Arambula.

He said the downtown plan's projects were intended to start at one time, not sequentially, and no TIF money was mentioned in the plan for use on the parking structure.

"It's premature to make a decision on this," Marks said, noting that he didn't trust the $13 million price tag proposed for the full-sized parking structure.

The councilors generally supported Marks, saying they had not abandoned the idea of one day building a full-sized parking structure.

"I don't see the need now," councilor Nick Palmer said.

Councilor Velvet Phillips-Sullivan said she preferred to "pay as you go" for the parking structure and not going into debt.

"A greater priority is police and fire," she said. "I feel the Heart of Whitefish is bullying us, and I don't appreciate it."